The Civil War and World War I are still topics that generate interest today and an opportunity exists to brush up on your history knowledge – and learn something new.

Bill Melega is a history teacher at Chapel Hill High School and was named the 2010 Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Teacher of the Year. He is bringing his expertise to the community in the form of a weekly lecture covering portions of two of the most polarizing wars in human history.

Melega says the lectures will be broken into portions. “[We’ll do] five weeks on the Civil War,” he says, “and then we’re going to dispel myths of World War I.”

This is the third year that Melega has offered the community lectures; this year’s Civil War portion will cover the period from 1864 through the assassination of President Lincoln.

Melega says there are many interesting stories to tell from this time in American history.

The five lectures covering the final stages of the Civil War begin Thursday night, January 8 from 7 to 8:30. The cost of attending the lectures is $75 for the entire series or $20 per session.

The World War I portion of the lectures will take place the five weeks following the Civil War presentations.

All of the proceeds will benefit the PTSA.

More information is available here.

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